Should have just left it alone and all would have been well
by Flareose - Knifepoint Entry
Summary: Paranoia and rage mixed was not a good emotion to feel at any point in time, considering what it could make some people do. He learned that the hard way when he found himself trapped in one of Kayaba Akihiko's little VRMMO called - Sword Art Online. He didn't like this place very much, and he didn't like Kirito who was near his fiancee either.


_"Reflection makes men cowards."_

_― __William Hazlitt_

* * *

**Should have just left it alone and all would have been well**

**Chapter One: Trapped**

* * *

_**Tuesday**_

_**9/18. Six-twenty one p.m**_

This had to be some sort of sick joke...

It just had to be.

Kayaba...

Kayaba as much as he honestly hated the man he could still say genuinely that he was never this crazy before.

* * *

_About as loony as he had ever gotten was during his employee of the month celebration where even with the cheers and party decorations out and on display, and the many people quite literally in a sense talking his his ear off, the man had continued even as a bit of drool escaped his opened mouth to stare, stare quite blankly in fact at one thing and one thing only._

_His documents, with the occasional quick glance at his laptop_

_Now let it be known that Kayaba had spent the last three to four days inside of that office so the place hadn't smelled quite so well as it should have, but that hadn't really matter so much, since even with the smell people still with smiles had took it upon themselves to go so far as to air freshen, dry clean, spray down, take out the trash, step on bugs and vacuum out the place until it sparkled and shined._

_However not necessarily in that order._

_It was with those same psychopathic smiles the people displayed, that they had once again took it upon themselves, to lift the said man up from his seat and carry him into his private bathroom with a new suit and all, which they then proceeded to give him a bath._

_If you were wondering where he; Sugou Nobuyuki was in all of this then be safe to know that he was not one of those psychopathic people. He and the Ceo of Recto Inc; Yuuki Shouzou, had been standing at the doorway safe from the chaotic horror scenes that they had both witnessed._

_Well... More like what he had witnessed._

_The Ceo while having a bit of a strained smile on his face and creased eyes that were shut tight with the occasional twitch, had been quite fine actually. It was him on the other that wasn't. Even as far as he had known the man and declared silently that he was his rival, Kayaba still to this day managed to make him annoyed at his sanity._

_Now let him get this straight right now._

_He was not concerned._

_Not scared in any sense of the word._

_And definitely not happy._

_But annoyed._

_However that didn't mean that he couldn't act that he wasn't happy on this day. So it was with this practice that he smiled with an easy going voice to match as he told the Ceo to excuse him as he walked into the room - that he really didn't want to be in right now by the way, that he set down his little parting gift he spent three hours and forty-five minutes making - but hey who was counting now in days anyways right, and took his position right by the Ceo again._

_Begrudgingly he could admit that Kayaba was good at what he did, even if the people he hired for his little team with the kickstarter money the Ceo gave him did seem like lunatics, but this new system he built; the NerveGear was such a sight to behold that he himself had to have one._

_Well... More forced upon really by the man standing next to him._

_He only ever used it in the past for beta testing while it was still it's alpha stages, which next followed by after a weeks time of playing he sent feedback to the Ceo and Kayaba who appreciated his reports, if not a little surprised in fact that he formulated this by himself. It was with a twitch of the smile that he said it wasn't a problem after they thanked him since now they could move to the next stage of the NerveGear project._

_What they didn't know was one thing however._

_While it was true that he beta tested the NerveGear with the intent of finishing up the project, his real motive for doing so was to make sure the helmet's system could function with perfection in mind. Now, he didn't necessarily mean that when it came to the games coding or it's visuals, or making sure the enemy placement was okay and fair. No, quite the exact opposite in fact._

_What he meant was the helmet itself._

_Could the helmet itself manage to incorporate all the emotions of the players? Could the helmet manage to make someone feel awe and surprise to horror and anger in a blink of the eye?_

_Could it manage from sight to seeing, smell to taste, touch to feel with the very wind in the games encoding playing with one's face?_

_And what of it's memory unit?_

_Could they possibly store emotions inside to use later on in other projects?_

_That was the questions he asked himself after spending day after day with little sleep... Which right afterwards made him make a mental note to himself stating it probably wasn't for the best ever again to stay awake drinking nothing but coffee and soda and eating nothing but toffee and pasta. He couldn't stop twitching for the next two weeks which wouldn't have been such a bad thing if he didn't have to meet Asuna the following day after the first week._

* * *

_The way she had looked at him that day with that funny look of her's, and proceeded to ask if he'd care for some tea after he sat down at the table and didn't stop twitching with the occasional hand or foot, made him actually think a little in his head..._

_Asuna however, after not receiving an answer had just shrugged her shoulders and prepared the tea anyway._

_He however continued to think as he twitched in his seat._

_How exactly did he look given his age - even though it wasn't by that much... In his opinion, driving his car to Asuna's parents house while they were gone by the way, while he continuously kept twitching like he was attempting to bring the boogie duck back into style again in the year of 2022... Or better yet maybe he should say whatever crazed style the kids were into these days since he hardly believed anyone remembered that dance._

_But still, how did he look exactly given his status?_

_As he stopped his thought process from going to extreme he begrudgingly gave Asuna a apologetic look as she set down his cup of tea, which after moving to the other side and sitting down in her own seat, she to gave him a look with a lifted eyebrow and confused eyes to boot when he proceeded to keep staring at her with that slight twitch in his eye._

_"..."_

_"..."_

_"I'm sorry... I just, I just recently got a salary boost after impressing your father." he cleared his throat afterwards, which Asuna answered by continuing to stare at him as she sipped her tea. "And I just felt like celebrating a little bit, that's all." it was a white lie he supposed considering what job it was he did and how far he went to achieve it, but she didn't need to know the rest since it was still the truth after all. The main point was he was still rather happy that his salary got the boost it did just from his little beta test with the NerveGear, so that's all she really needed to know._

_"Well then... That explains why you were attempting to bring the boogie duck back. Not bad." he barely went two sips of his tea without chocking._

_Well what do you know..._

* * *

_He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of the bathroom door opening only to see him. There in all of his idiocy with a fresh suit this time thank goodness was Kayaba, who was once again being carried by his group. With the man finally set down he went to do what he did previously... Which was starting at the documents only to give a quick eye to his laptop._

_Now it was true that Kayaba was a bit strange sometimes when it came to his work, usually since if he wasn't done with a huge chunk of it by the end of the day he'd stay the night or days on end trying to finish whatever he was doing._

_That however did not explain the sudden bad feeling he got at the pit of his stomach, only for one minute to pass by as Kayaba with mouth opened wide again - this time with no drool thank goodness, looked cautiously around the room as he saw pretty much everyone having a good time, that included even the Ceo who stepped away from the door and put a cautious foot forwards in wariness, as this wasn't the first time something like this happened with these people he was funding. Only afterwards presuming it was safe enough to get some lemonade._

_And maybe a cupcake or two to go along with it._

_Kayaba being Kayaba was naturally a good guy. As a matter of fact he didn't believe the man had a mean bone in his body... But when it came to his work he knew the man would really and truthfully like to get it finish if possible._

_To bad the word possible was not apart of his vocabulary sadly._

_So when looking back down at his documents again, which Nobuyuki who was still near the door could say now the man didn't even know the cake was there to began with... Which couldn't be a good thing because..._

_**CRASH**_

_Because he had spent - begrudgingly by the way, three hours and forty-five minutes making that damn lemon chocolate black forest cake - **but hey who was counting anymore these days anyways right,** when he could have been reading some Shakespeare poetry and imagining himself as the King of the Fairies from A Midsummer Night's Dream; Oberon. Or taking a nap, since he had favored his naps since the coffee soda toffee pasta incident._

_After two minutes and counting it had turned rather silent when the people's shock value went down a peg._

_"..."_

_"..."_

_With arms secured around his documents tightly he brought them close to his chest, "W-will someone save the cake, p-please." he said with a gagged and dry voice as he glanced wearily around the room with a sort of pout/frown on his face when nobody was answering him._

_"The cake is gone..." oh believe him, he wanted to say more than that. But he needed to just stay as calm and patent as possible before he did something crazy like run towards that man and take a mad leap on his desk and beat the ever living..._

_"T-the cake is gone... B-but how, why..." with that same gagged and dry voice the man who created one of the most amazing and game breaking things on this planet, who had one of the most genius minds seen in years - besides his own of course, had a single tear coming out of his right eye._

_With stomach growling for food Akihiko had cried that day, only for people to swarm around him - him not included for he feared what he'd do to that man, appearing with cupcakes and cookies and sugar spice and everything just so nice until he turned them all away._

_For that lemon chocolate black forest cake..._

_Had been his fave._

* * *

_It was one of those days where he had gotten off of his comfy leather chair in his office with a smile, afterwards walking out of said room to take the elevator to meet with the Ceo since he was now done with a little project he had wanted him to finish earlier._

_He rather liked days like this when it was particularly a normal day at Recto Inc with the sky still blue and crystal clear as could be, and the air not being too chilly or too warm which was a good thing because it help balanced out his emotions well. He was even beginning to smile a little more whether from the fact that Akihiko was no where in site to be found or from his plan - that the Ceo would never know about, who knew._

_So you could say it was easy going so far... Until he got off that elevator with a spring in his step and passed by the secretary with a nod in her direction, before turning down another hallway to get to the Ceo's door._

_"What do you mean exactly?" that was until he heard the Ceo's confused voice from beyond his door._

_With hand still gripped to the cold knob he knitted his brows together as he believed if his boss would have had someone calling him, then he should have heard the secretary phoning in someone right now seeing as how this hallway wasn't that long, or while he was just passing her instead._

_Which meant this call was a family call._

_With the little respect he did have for the man he knew that barging into the room just because he had the documents in hand was a rather rude thing to do, so letting go of the doorknob he took a couple of steps back with hands crossed behind him as he waited. Only to hear more of the conversation as he could tell by now his boss was pacing around the room._

_"Well... That's what kids of today usually do. If she answered with a he's funny or a meh as they call it now in days, then isn't that alright," his boss snickered as he could tell it was his wife he was speaking to now. As the room grew quite with the laughter slowly dying down he couldn't have helped the slight wavering of his breath._

_They were after all speaking about him and Asuna._

_"Well honey... The man's a little strange so okay but can't you trust my judgement in finding a suitable husband for her?"_

_He didn't quite know why his blood ran cold like that._

_"... Alright alright. I'll think about it." with eyes widen and sending cautious looks at the door he bit the bottom of his lip in worry._

_With his very heart hammering against his rib cage like a drum while the color from his face drained, the only thing he could think of now were his plans._

_His plans..._

_Those very same plans he'd spent months thinking about since he beta tested the alpha levels on the NerveGear... Yes those very same plans he could feel going up in flames by that one sentence._

_While holding the documents in his left hand just a little tighter, he turned away from the door as he made his way back to the elevator with a different outlook on the outside than the growing paranoia and rage he felt on the inside._

* * *

_**Again.**_

This had to be some sort of sick joke...

It just had to be.

Kayaba...

Kayaba as much as he honestly hated the man he could still say genuinely that he was never this crazy before.

Key word being**_ before._**

It was then a little while ago about, he'd say two hours given how this game worked with time, that he had called Asuna. After finding she wasn't answering her cellphone like she normally would - which he knew since usually if it was him which was hardly ever, she'd let it ring for about three times before answering, he had the silliest feeling in the world that she was in sword art online right now.

Now, he had over the couple of weeks when finding out that they were thinking if he could honestly be the best husband for their daughter, so in those weeks he had been doing his hardest to prove that he was.

From picking her up at school - which students and teachers gave him funny looks over.

To taking her out to random movies... - Which staff there and others gave him funny looks over.

And to asking what she liked - which she had given him a funny look over.

While fidgeting slightly in the car - since this had been one of those days he had decided to pick her up and act a little too happy in front of her school, she had answered that she was starting to get into gaming now in days which he had honestly been a little surprised over seeing she wasn't the gaming type. She went farther in saying Sword Art Online was something she was thinking to buy, soon since it looked interesting from the trailers of them showcasing it.

That's exactly why he was here now.

Screaming as far as his lungs could go as he sat there and stared.

Just screaming and staring...

Now with tears streaking down his face as he continued to stare like so many others at the Sword Art Online's Gamemaster.

He never thought Akihiko could be that crazy let alone batshit terrifying.


End file.
